Structural supports for motors, such as electric motors of the type used to drive fan blades in air conditioning units, must hold the motor casing in a generally vertical orientation with a sealed end of the casing pointed downward and the motor shaft pointed upward to position the fan blade to rotate in a generally horizontal plane, as generally shown in FIG. 1. Such motor mounts typically include at least four supporting legs which extend from the perimeter of the fan blade housing to a clamp which grips the motor casing. In these types of motor mounts, failure of any welds or brazed connections of the legs to the motor casing clamp can cause the entire motor to drop into and catastrophically damage the compressor.
In other types of motor mounts, the legs include sections which extend around the side and bottom half of the motor casing, with a motor casing clamp positioned over these sections of the legs, as generally shown in FIG. 1. These sections of the legs thereby intersect at the center of the bottom of the motor casing, and may be welded or brazed at the point of intersection. However, with the legs welded together, the motor mount assembly is unwieldy and difficult and expensive to ship and handle.